, Sept. 15 -- A network of tobacco tax experts has blasted a so-called research firm for publishing "fabricated and absurd" data to mislead the government and undermine tobacco control initiatives.

In a strongly worded statement issued on Monday, the Bangladesh Network for Tobacco Tax Policy (BNTTP) accused Insight Matrix of working as a front for multinational tobacco companies.

The group said the firm is deliberately trying to obstruct the ongoing tobacco control law amendment process, interfere in government policy, and confuse the National Board of Revenue (NBR) with manipulated statistics.

Insight Matrix is serving the interests of big tobacco by producing a so-called study that is completely detached from reality, the statement s...